RWBY: Remnant's Blond Bard

Chapter 37

Vacuo was going through a period of upheaval as the fallout from Crown's actions was fully laid out. There was probably a lot of news coverage, interviews and blame being flung about, but Jaune didn't see much of that. He kept away from the television and the internet, and away from work – away even from his guitar.

It had killed someone after all.

It was a weapon.

The person he'd killed hadn't been a good man, and Jaune knew Jax deserved to die. It wasn't the fact Jax Asturias was dead that terrified him, nor even the fact he killed the man, because no one was going to say that was anything other than self-defence. No, the real problem was that he'd killed without realising it. It was that his Semblance, which he'd assumed was a joke, was capable of murder.

And he'd never realised it.

How many people had he played songs for now? Millions according to his online views – tens of millions. What if he'd played a Discordant Note in those streams as a prank? What if he hadn't realised? Would there be heart attacks across Remnant, or would it be diluted across so many people? Had his Semblance always been capable of this, or had he hated Jax so much that it hit harder? Jaune didn't know, and that was the problem.

It was like he'd just realised he was a child playing with a gun that had gone off and shot someone.

Reality was crashing down.

The door opened and Cinder came in, closing it behind her. There was a tray of hotel food in her hand.

"Meera asked me to bring you this," she said. "The girl is worried about you."

Jaune smiled faintly. He wasn't surprised she was worried, and it warmed him to know someone was thinking about him. That was a good sign, he supposed, because it meant he wasn't so much wallowing in self-destructive pity as he was dealing with his thoughts. He accepted the food, a selection of fruits and nuts, and picked at them. Cinder sat on a stool nearby.

"The city has quashed any criminal charges against us and my team," she said. "No one was suggesting any would be made but making it official is their way of making it official. It turns out Crown were involved in human trafficking as well, including trafficking of children. The more their crimes come to light, the more people are grateful they're gone."

"That was fairly obvious when they decided to kill orphans to draw out an internet celebrity," Jaune mumbled.

Cinder hummed. A short silence passed between them, until the woman let out a quiet breath and said, "I'm not one for comfort. Tell me what's wrong."

It was an order.

And Jaune followed it. "I'm not upset at what I did or what came of it." That drew an approving nod from her. "I think this is shock. I didn't know my Semblance could kill and I've been using it for a while now. I didn't mean to kill him, and I did, and now I'm left wondering how many people could have died because I didn't mean to kill them, either. I'm angry with myself, and angry at my Semblance."

"That's a better reason than I expected."

"Is it?"

"Yes." Cinder smirked. "I was half-expecting some 'woe is me, I took a life' nonsense from you. The man deserved death. It's good you recognise that. Surprise at discovering the lethality of your Semblance is far more reasonable, as is anger at a perceived loss of control."